Sleep

With the several issues flooding the internet, social media, and lots, it’ll be very necessary to deliberate on these issues about Amitriptyline. This is going to enlighten you more on the issue of Amitriptyline and Sleep.

I struggled with severe long-term insomnia between the ages of 16-29, for 13 good years. I took many classes, tried several online classes, exercises and even meditations and hypnosis, but it was all to no avail. I tried all I could, and judiciously followed my counselor’s instructions and suggestions. After all these years of waiting, it was a lung specialist who suggested that I try the Amitriptyline. He suggested that I start with 50 mg, this helped to some extent but wasn’t in any way efficient and effective as when I started taking the 100 mg. Since then, I’ve been sleeping just like and even more than any other normal person.

It’s over two years now that I’ve not been sleeping with any aid and I never thought this could be possible. This medication really improved my life and gave me a feeling I never dreamt I could get.

However, this medication came with some minor side effect such as weight gain and change of appetite. I just dealt with the weight gain, by being careful of my intakes and meal composition.

Amitriptyline as an Insomnia Treatment

Amitriptyline is an off-label medication for depression, available only for prescription by a medical practitioner.

Just like most anti-depressants, it could be used as an alternative treatment for insomnia. Most of these medications, are not FDA approved for these alternative uses but could see their way to the top as popular because of relative effectiveness in such situations. The effectiveness of the medication has made it a perfect substitute for treating pain, and lots more

A Quick Breakdown of How Amitriptyline Works

As an anti-depressant, Amitriptyline works by suppressing the cycling of both serotonin and norepinephrine. These two neurotransmitters (serotonin and norepinephrine) account for automatic mood and body responses. When these two hormones are short or reduced, then the symptoms of depression and often times, insomnia will definitely surface.

It’s very important to note that amitriptyline is manufactured as an anti-depressant and not a sleep aid, but nevertheless, its effectiveness and usefulness as an aid has made it much more popular. It has many benefits, compared to most medications designed mainly as a sleep aid. One crucial benefit is the drugs long half-life, which makes it last for 12-24 hours, a good quality which surpasses most Insomnia medications.

Most sleep conditions don’t allow the patients to get a full night’s sleep, such that the patient wakes later in the night and won’t be able to sleep again, but the bioactivity of amitriptyline is always supportive.

How Can Amitriptyline be used to Improve Sleep?

One advantage amitriptyline has over other drugs like benzodiazepines (Dalmane), you cannot get addicted to the medications. In addition to that, there’s no significant reaction after withdrawal.

The Most Recorded Side Effects Amitriptyline

There are some side effects that come with Amitriptyline, which ranges from restlessness, mood or behavioral changes, but you’ll always have to make sure you report to a physician so they’ll take the necessary steps.

Nevertheless, here’s a small list of these side effects:

Abnormal thoughts or behavior

A light-headed feeling

Chest pain or pressure

Nausea

Pain spreading to your jaw or shoulder

Sweating

Pounding heartbeats or fluttering in your chest

Confusion, delusions, or hallucinations

A seizure (convulsions)

Painful or difficult urination

Severe constipation

Easy bruising, unusual bleeding

Sudden weakness or ill feeling, fever, chills

A sore throat, mouth sores, red or swollen gums, trouble swallowing.

Diarrhea

Vomiting, upset stomach

Mouth pain, unusual taste, black tongue

Appetite or weight changes

Urinating less than usual

Itching or rash

Breast swelling (for both men and women)

Decreased sex drive or impotence

Difficulty having an orgasm

What are the Top Problems Associated with Amitriptyline?

There are several problematic side effects that are associated with amitriptyline, such as dry mouth, increased heart rate, blurred vision, and urinary retention. Furthermore, it can enhance a sudden drop in sugar level that can make you dizzy.

Amitriptyline actually helps with sleep issues, but the improvement is not steady, it goes down over time. In addition to this, the medication causes cardiac conduction problems that could give chance for heart failure.

Easiest Way to go about These Problems – Dosage

These side effects caused by amitriptyline should be controlled, and in a bid for that, we considered ‘dosage’.

Most physicians normally prescribe this drug for their patients and administer a low dosage. After a few periods of time, the adverse and therapeutic effects of the medication will be monitored, after which the physician either top’s up to the dose, or reduces it. If reduced, there’ll still be observations to see whether these side effects will persist, or even become more intolerable. For intolerable cases, there’ll always be no better approach than total withdrawal, but if not, the patient’s suitability dose could be studied.

Conclusion

In brief, amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant medication which causes many side effects, including tiredness and restfulness.

Conversely, it’s active and effective for treating pains related to neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia. This means that it could be used for any sleep issues and defect that is associated with pain and clinical depression. But it is still not vindicated for isolated sleep problems.

There’re diverse issues affecting sleep, and this has made many persons afraid to sleep. This article will be deliberating briefly on the top causes and remedies.

After a hectic day at work, I don’t normally get a nice sleep, maybe because I’m always afraid to sleep. I just don’t know the causes, but this condition is really wearing me down.

My psychological and mental health is really deteriorating and I just feel sick and odd. At first, I thought of this to be one of those random issues, but it’s really getting serious. I had to call for the attention of my counsellor for some few tips that could help fix this condition, I’ve observed them religiously, and my condition is really improving. I’ve passed through a lot during these periods, and believe I’m experienced enough to educate you on this.

Basic Factors behind Being Afraid to Sleep

Being afraid to sleep could be caused by myriads of reasons. This could be caused by several health and psychological conditions and sleep disorder such as anxiety, REM sleep behaviour disorder, narcolepsy, sleep walking, sleep terrors and bruxism.

The American Sleep Association (ASA) in a recent report, stated that over 50 million Americans today have sleeping disorders, and a majority of these persons are often misdiagnosed. For over many years, this national epidemic has been affecting the country one way or the other and will pose to be a great trait in the near feature.

There are several things you’ll need to know to tackle the several problems associated with this issue, this ranges from the causes, to the symptoms and a few key solutions.

Let’s ponder on these causes, symptoms, and medical treatments respectively.

Predominant Causes and Symptoms

Before you take any further step, you should carefully observe your daily routine and compare it with that of the former to know the disparity between the two conditions, as that should help you to know what will actually be causing you to be afraid to sleep.

Over the years, there has been some common traits, which could be causing this sleeping defect and it include:

This is a case isn’t actually rampant just as every other sleeping disorder.

The normal sleep has two distinct states which are the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and the non-Rapid Eye Movement. The REM is responsible for 20-25 percent of every sleeping period. During this period, there’ll be a loss of muscle tone, increment of blood pressure, irregular breathing and lots more. In addition to that, the brain is always active during this period and it accounts for a dream.

Bruxism

Over 45 million Americans are victims of this issue. It’s chiefly the gnashing or grinding of teeth during sleep. The occasional grinding or gnashing of teeth can be harmful, but that shouldn’t be compared with the bruxism. It’s always more frequent than the normal teeth grinding. It’s always painful for your teeth and jaw, and if not treated, will cause your teeth to wear down all the way. There are several causes of Bruxism, but we’ll be concentrating on the sleep order such as apnoea.

Bruxism mainly occurs during sleep, so most persons are unaware of their status. Nevertheless, there are few symptoms associated with this defect.

Examples of these symptoms are:

Constant Headache

Sore jaw

Constant teeth ache

You could ask your loved ones to know if you make any grinding sound at night.

Narcolepsy

This is one of the most common disorder found around the world today. Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that’s caused by abnormalities in the part of the brain that controls the REM sleep. As a sleeping disorder, it’ll definitely affect the control of sleep and wakefulness, so you’ll be experiencing excessive sleepiness during the day – this sleepiness is intermittent, uncontrollable and could occur during any activity. Narcolepsy boosts the REM sleep, thereby indirectly igniting some effects like dream and muscle paralysis, which is accountable for the symptoms of narcolepsy.

There are several symptoms associated with narcolepsy, but we’ll be going through only but a few which is normally experienced by these patients.

They include:

Hallucination

Paralysis

Catalepsy

Excessive daytime sleepiness

Fragmented Night time

Insomnia

With roughly one-third of the American population suffering from this condition, it poses a great fear in the life of every American, you’ll really be afraid to sleep. This condition won’t allow you to fall asleep, stay asleep, or even enjoy the full benefits of sleep. Most persons in this condition find it difficult to maintain a regular sleep schedule and normally develop poor sleep habits.

Even when you notice any symptoms of Insomnia, it’s more important to know if it’s a short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic) Insomnia. The latter is not always serious as the chronic. The chronic Insomnia can last for three nights every week for a longer period of time, but the acute Insomnia is just short-term and can last up to three months.

Most times, this medical condition has been traced to major life stress, illness, emotional or physical discomfort, noise, light, change in environment, temperature, sleep building and routines, and some other several conditions.

Most Effective Natural Remedies for these Sleep Disorders

There are several treatment approaches to these issues, but I’ll be listing some of the natural and simple approaches.

Early morning work

Decrease stress, especially before bedtime.

You could visit a dentist, doctor in cases of bruxism.

Try several stretching exercises and massage for muscle relaxation.

Work on your diet and make sure they’re the best fit for the condition.

Avoid distraction.

Curtail your intake of caffeine and alcohol.

Adopt a perfect bedtime ritual.

Try a hot bath.

Use a comfortable and quiet room.

Melatonin is the body’s time keeper, you could meet your doctor for a prescription.

Conclusion

To cut the whole story short, being afraid to sleep comes with many things in stock. To avoid misdiagnosis, always seek for the attention of a medical practitioner or counsellor religiously, and wisely.

If you’ve tried the above treatments and these symptoms persist, I suggest you meet a doctor now.

With the various issues around the world, it will be important to clarify the issues of prednisone and sleep. This article will be clarifying us on these issues.

Even until 3 o’clock in the morning Dyane is still awake, frightened by the thought of the night that always cause her discomfort, all due to the side effect left behind by prednisone. After a chat with her, we decided to get a solution for the sleeplessness.

She was like “Annie, I don’t know what’s happening, I stay awake all night and during the days, and I’ll sleep till noon. I’ve tried to stop taking the drugs, but the medical advantage is way more essential than the defects. The normal getting up early, no naps, no noise, and dark room tips seems to be ineffective, I really need help.”

I felt for her and so had to research the issues associated with sleep and Insomnia.

Over the years, there have been several cases of prednisone’s side effect. The issues include Insomnia, severe allergic reactions, headache, sleeping difficulty, nausea, and lots more. But due to the medical advantage of this drug, it is still prescribed and administered to patients. We are going to discuss relationship between prednisone and sleep defects associated with this drug, so sit tight and read up.

First of all, what is prednisone?

Prednisone is one of the several drugs only available on prescription, a synthetic corticosteroid drug that is effective for immune suppression. Prednisone is used to reduce and treat certain inflammatory diseases in the body, such as severe arthritis or psoriasis, acute conditions such as a respiratory infection, some types of cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

The prednisone is used to treat other ailments which include:

Allergies

Anaemia

Asthma

Bursitis

Colitis

Dermatitis

Endocrine disorders

Eye inflammation

Eye ulcer

Lung diseases

Lupus and Nephritic syndrome

Multiple sclerosis

Optic neuritis

Osteoarthritis

Psoriasis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Thrombocytopenia

Symptoms of leukaemia or lymphoma

As a corticosteroid drug, it impedes some of the body’s response to inflammation, but the side effects could jeopardize your whole life.

Insomnia is one of the serious side effects of this drug prednisone. Most people with this issue will always try to do it their way, but it’s not always the best option.

Prednisone causes acute insomnia, which will cost you of your good night’s sleep, even when you resort to pills. Imagine waking up for over 100 times a night, that’ll be so exhausting. Insomnia is a havoc and will cost you of your most prized procession ‘sleep’, but that’s if you take it for granted. It’s more advisable to always complain to your doctor or counselor because they’ll always know the perfect supplement and treatment for any condition.

Sleep is one of the most efficient ways of getting well, feeling good, recovering from the daily stress, and maintaining a good mental health. Now think about it, having a whole night all to yourself no sleep at all, it’s really a horrible sight.

Why should this kind of drug be prescribed to a patient for medical treatment?

Actually, the benefits of the drug tend to outweigh the cost, and before being prescribed to a patient, it’ll be obvious that the case is critical and this aid will be needed.

Doctors prescribe these drugs for a patient with the recommendation to take right before they sleep, this prednisone takes time to activate, and so before the side effects kick in you should have been way deep sleeping.

But still, some medical conditions will require the patient to take this drug twice a day, and this is when the main defect sets in. It is always more effective, and the side effect is equally more destructive.

With the issue of prednisone and sleep, you could use some sleep aids and medications to stabilize the side effect of this drug. Before resorting to any medication, always alert the doctor.

There are also some physical approaches that could help the situation, but only to some extent.

Avoid bright lights from your computer, phone, tablets and television and every other source before you sleep. Most patients will always complain about their sleeping issues and still have their watch programs on their television till morning, that’s not what your bedtime is meant for.

Bedtime is intended for sleeping not for TV shows and gaming or even working.

Avoid distractions, and find the best place to confine yourself to a better sleep, that is literally your bedroom.

You can opt for simple treatments like melatonin and chamomile, they are just safe over-the-counter treatment. You could give them a try – they are often ineffective, but you could be lucky.

Are you contemplating on using a substitute?

You should know that prednisone is a strong synthetic cortisone and the body makes cortisone. Cortisone is a natural hormone made by the adrenal glands.

The body converts prednisone to Hydrocortisone so it’ll become active. 5 mg of prednisone has about the same effect as 25 mg of cortisone.

The amount of cortisone the body produces in a day is equivalent to about 3-6 mg of prednisone.

The synthetic cortisone is more effective for anti-inflammatory cases but has less effect on minerals like potassium. So why opt for a substitute?

Conclusion

In brief, Prednisone is a miraculous intervention in the medical world. It puts many problems in remission, but that’s at a price of Insomnia, agitation, anxiety, depression, increased risk of infection and bone fracture.

Its medical relevance has made it a wrong idea to substitute it for any other drug, but there has been various studies and research to reduce its side effect of prednisone on sleep, even to the barest minimum.

When you’re recommended to use the drug, always report to your on any sight of the defect.

This article explains more about sleep and anxiety and solves the several puzzles and question that has been bothering you, so sit tight and pay keen attention.

Over the years there has been several studies and records on the issue of anxiety. A recent recordshows that over 40 million adults in the United States (U.S.), suffers from the several forms of anxiety.

With less than 37 percent of these patients receiving treatment, medical practitioners and doctors have recommended several remedies and treatments for these patients and we’ll be talking about these treatments.

Firstly, what’s Anxiety?

The term anxiety generalizes the several dysfunctions that hoist nervousness, worrying, fear and apprehension.

In one of the definitions of the American Psychological Association, they defined anxiety as “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes such as increased blood pressure.”

Most people with this condition have been exposed to numerous psychological and physical symptoms. Anxiety readily affects our feeling, even though it might be mild or even severe.

There are distinct differences between the normal symptoms of ‘Anxiety’ and that of ‘Anxiety disorder.’ I’ll give more details about these two terms.

Anxiety

Anxiety is just like the normal day-to-day feeling of worry and increased alarms activated in our body when we’re exposed to some uncertain and potentially harmful conditions.

Anxiety is common with human beings or I must say ‘living thing.’ It has been inherent since the earliest days when the sight of harm triggered some chemical reactions in the body and forces the individual to take precautionary action.

The body adrenaline reacts to these conditions and alters the steady state of the body, such that you’ll be experiencing several changes like an increased

heartbeat, increased sensitivity and even sweating. This is known as the ‘flight-fight’ response. It prepares you for the worst and keeps you on alert.

I know that you’ll not be running into any predator or imminent danger, but anxiety is not always about that. In the modern world, anxiety deals with other likely factors like health, life, finance and other crucial and pressing issues.

These feelings of anxiety pop up when you’re afraid of falling sick, losing your job or business deal, involving in an accident, failing a test and even death.

Anxiety disorder

Anxiety disorder is graver than anxiety. The severity of the reaction that occurs is always is always more serious than what original trigger could have caused. It always comes with physical and psychological symptoms which include nausea, increased heart rate and lots more. The American Psychological Association (APA) describes people in this condition as “having cyclical intrusive thoughts or concern”

Anxiety disorder is classified into 6 main types.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Social anxiety disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Panic disorder

Phobia

Separation anxiety disorder

Sleeping does a lot to our body system, and altering it would definitely affect you in one way or the other. Poor sleep ways beyond tiredness and leads to a retarded mental health, poor performance health problems, and lots more.

Sleep disorder doesn’t just cause anxiety and mood disorder, it leaves our body system vulnerable to conditions like irregular heartbeat, heart failure, high

Treatment

Haven’t you been sleeping because of anxiety and sleep disorder? It’ll be more advisable to visit a medical practitioner, mental health professional, and disorder clinics.

There are several treatment options available for this condition, which include cognitive-behavior therapy, relaxing techniques as well as medications, which shows how to identify and modify the various lifestyles that propagate sleeping difficulties.

Your therapists or doctor will know better and will recommend one or a combination of these treatments.

In addition to that, to control sleep and anxiety:

When deep press therapy applies to persons in this condition, there is a drastic boost of serotonin, which improves mood and general well-being and melatonin hormone which also has a calming effect that results in a deeper sleep. A weighted blanket simulates the action of being hugged, and the body releases these chemicals as a result. Use weighted blankets

If the weighted blanket doesn’t do it all, then add exercises to your weekly routine. Studies have proven that exercises such as cycling and yoga, helps counter anxiety. These activities help to release mood-enhancing endorphins and provide an outlet for frustration.

While exercise has been proven to help improve sleep and reduce anxiety, it’s not advisable right before you sleep because it’ll keep you awake through the night. Morning and afternoon are best for exercising, it can help you adjust your sleeping routine to help alleviate and treat anxiety, insomnia and even sleep apnoea.

Always schedule your day and map out at least, seven to nine hours daily for a full night of constant sleep.

Reading books and listening to soft music helps you to meditate and basically improves your sleeping routine. You could make use of that.

Stimulants like nicotine, coffee, and even chocolate heighten your sleep. You should also avoid side attractions such as television programs, computer and several of their kind.

Know what your bedroom is meant for. Always have it at the back of your mind that the bedroom is meant for sleeping and not for TV shows and gaming or even working. Always find the best spot to confine yourself to a better sleep.

Avoid alcohol and caffeine because excessive intake of it daily, will inhibit sleep, increase anxiety and even jeopardize the day’s activity. Alcohol alone will increase your heart rate and keep you awake all night. Make sure you take enough water daily, a reasonable amount so you won’t be frequenting the bathroom at night.

Conclusion

There’s more to managing anxiety than getting adequate exercise, using a weighted blanket, going to yoga classes and avoiding distractions. The best step to take when you notice any signs of anxiety or sleeping distress is to alarm your doctor or counselors. When issues like this arise, meet this pro’s because they have enough knowledge and possess great expertise that can be useful for the treatment.

How much do you think you know about sleep? Do you think it’s just as a ‘time out’ from your busy daily routine? There’s a lot to it than that. This article will explain more about sleep and how it affects your mental health, so why don’t you pay keen attention and make the best out of your time.

The Oxford Dictionary defines sleep as “A regular recurring condition of body and mind in which the nervous system is inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed and consciousness practically suspended.”

But the Merriam Webster explains thus further that “Sleep is the natural periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored.”

So you see that you’ll be needing enough sleep to recover from the day’s hurdle and restore a perfect system.

How important is this sleep of a thing?

Most time at work you must have felt drowsy, and if you can recall, the night before that you didn’t have much sleep; if you’ve ever been through that, you must know how important a night sleep is.

Sleep is significantly essential for your mental health – without a good sleep, you’ll be jeopardizing your mental health for life, and that is not as simple as it sounds.

After a research at the Mental Health Foundation, London UK, Dan Robotham commented: “Getting good quality sleep is essential, but insomnia is a huge problem and may be the most commonly reported mental health complaint in the UK. Mental health influences insomnia and insomnia can lead to mental health problems. Sleep medication is a commonly prescribed treatment for insomnia, but evidence from robust research suggests that Cognitive

Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBTI) is the most successful treatment for chronic insomnia.”

Recent studies have proven that our busy lives have cost us over 120minutes of sleep every night, relating to the 1900’s – you know this is just for a typical person, not to mention those with several sleeping issues, it means they must permanently sleep-deprived.

In the United States today, it has been recorded that over 40 million people per year suffer from several chronic and long-term sleeping disorder, with over20 million having recurring sleep issues.

Most chronic mental issues, reduced immune system, heart diseases, depression anxiety and even cancer are all linked to poor sleeping habits – no wonder these sleeping defects is costing over $16 billion medical cost yearly. Note that the indirect cost due to lost productivity isn’t included.

Medically, there are over 80 different sleeping issues recorded, ranging from the inability to stay awake (narcolepsy) to the inability to sleep (insomnia). Luckily enough, most of these defects are just temporary, so you could step out of the box and find the several self-help measures to help you build up a better sleeping routine.

Adding to that, most of these sleeping issues could be a symptom of other health and mental conditions, so it’s always necessary to seek medical attention if these symptoms persist.

Now let’s talk a little about these mental issues

Insomnia

This is a preeminent sleeping defect that has been affecting over20 percent of the world population.

The major symptoms include;

Problems falling asleep, and difficulties staying asleep – you will definitely wake up over 100 times each night.

Waking up too early.

Sleepiness during the daytime.

Anxiety

Impaired concentration and memory defects.

Short-term insomnia lasts for just a few nights or weeks and could be caused be as a result of stuff like:

Change in environmental noise level and jetlag.

Stress.

Temperature fluctuation.

Side effects caused by medicines.

Unlike short-term insomnia, chronic insomnia lasts longer and is often caused by factors that include underlying mental and physical health problems. Adding to that are other behavioral factors such as altering your normal routine for a long-term, or excessive alcohol, caffeine and lots more.

Narcolepsy

You shouldn’t ever imagine having a sleeping disorder like this. Narcolepsy is a brain disorder that alters and upsets the regulation of your sleep pattern.

Narcolepsy comes with heavy symptoms of excessive sleepiness – you could doze off even when driving, talking and even working. But funny enough, the sleeping period doesn’t last long, it lasts for 30 seconds, and 30 minutes at most.

Over the years, there has not been any proven cure for narcolepsy, but you could adjust your sleeping routine, improve your diet and exercises to control the symptoms.

Sleep Apnoea

If you’ve slept around a patient, you’ll know the level of seriousness. Unlike most sleeping disorders, the Sleep apnoea is accompanied with an acute and loud snoring which comes at brief intervals and causes them to wake up for breath – this could happen for hundreds of time the same night and the patient will definitely turn out drowsy and tired during the day.

The patients are not always conscious of these brief awakenings during the night. Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) restricts your airway way and would require an urgent medical attention for control.

If you’re having issues with Sleep Apnoea, then you should watch your weight. You should also seek for medical attention. There has been a recent improvement in Sleep Apnoea control, a special machine has been built to pump airs into your nose and keep your airway open while you sleep.

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One of the most disastrous results of these sleeping issues is the driver’s fatigue.

According to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver fatigue is responsible for over 100,000 road accidents with 1500 deaths yearly. If you are not concerned about your mental health, then just take that sleep so you won’t be endangering the lives of people around you. A sleep-deprived driver drives much more disastrous than an intoxicated driver.

Adding to that, sleep deprivation reduces your alters the nervous system and boosts the effect of alcohol on the body, so a drowsy person will be much more impaired than a person that has gotten enough rest.

Sleep deprivation could jeopardize your mental health.

A recent study shows that Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep, plays a cumbersome role in stimulating our brain regions that are essential for learning. Those involved in the study were taught several skills and a fraction of them were deprived of REM sleep, this caused them to perform very poorly, unlike the other fraction that had a full REM sleep.

Conclusion

If you’ve really paid keen attention, it’ll be obvious that when sleep is disrupted, it impairs our ability to think faster and affects our mental health. Why don’t you shut your system, lay your bed and get a nice sleep.